In this Weekly Wisdom, Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar explains two yagyas that involve shared natural resources and going beyond one's comfort zone.
Dravya yagya is done with many materials, including 108 different types of herbs, grains, and flowers. That’s being done here in the Ashram.
Sitting together, talking, and sharing a meal is also dravya yagya.
Tapo yagya is forbearance, forbearing; you find something is difficult, and yet you know it's good and still do it.
Sticking with discomfort
Don't run away in the middle because you don't like something. That isn't tapo yagya.
Tapo yagya is when you don't like it, but you know it's needed and good, so you do it despite not being happy or comfortable about what you're doing.
Life poses many incidents of tapas (self-discipline) for you. That's necessary. Suppose you have to give a driver a job late in the evening or night or very early in the morning for a while.
Maybe there's a wedding at home or a housewarming. You have to do these things and need a driver. Or there's an election campaign, and you have to go.
Suppose the driver says, “No, I can't do this,” and leaves the job.
What will happen to you? Will the driver get a job anywhere else if he keeps behaving like a rolling stone? No!
If he has difficulty, he has to forbear it. A driver will have to do tapas to make you comfortable. It's also so he can keep his job.
Forbearance of difficulty
Suppose you have to fly for 10 hours, and you're not used to sitting for more than 2 hours. Will the air hostess let you stand for so long?
No! You have to sit there.
If you’ve no tapas in life, you can't be happy. Tapas strengthens you and contributes to your happiness.
Everybody has to do some tapas. A mother does tapas because babies wake up in the middle of the night. She has to be awake. She can't say, “No, I want to sleep. If you're crying, cry.”
She can't afford to do that. She has to keep one eye open on what’s happening to the baby. For 3, 4, or 5 months, even a year or more, there's a big tapas for the mother. She loses sleep.
Don't overdo or torture yourself
Letting go of convenience for some greater good is tapas. Going beyond your comfort zone is also tapas.
Nature compels you to step beyond your comfort zone. You need to do it, but you don't need to overdo it.
Some overdo it. They torture themselves. That's no good.
If a driver has to do the same job for a whole year, he’ll break down. He need not do that. But if it's just for a period of time, he’ll endure.
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Editor’s note:
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